Third of force’s arrests ‘were for drink or drug-driving’
A THIRD of all people arrested by Dyfed-powys Police last weekend were suspected of drink or drug driving, as roads policing officers crack down on dangerous drivers.
The force has revealed that its Roads Policing Unit officers arrested 20 people on suspicion of driving while under the influence of drugs or alcohol over a three-day period from September 25 until September 27. This accounts for a third of all arrests across the divisions over the weekend.
Breaking the figures down, the force says 11 of the people arrested were suspected to have illegal substances in their system at the time of driving, while nine were suspected to be over the alcohol limit.
Inspector for Specialist Operations Andy Williams said: “Unfortunately, we have seen a dramatic rise in arrests over the past 12 months, with the number of drug-driving incidents surpassing drink-driving.
“We are putting this down to increased detection rates, and the highly proactive work of our Roads Policing Unit officers across the force, who are doing all they can to ensure these dangerous drivers are taken off the road.”
Looking at the picture across the force area for last weekend, Powys saw the highest number of suspected drink or drug-driving incidents, with more than half of all arrests across the division (56%) being made for these offences. Drink or drugdriving accounted for 30% of the weekend’s arrests in Pembrokeshire, 29% of arrests in Ceredigion, and 19% of arrests in Carmarthenshire.
Insp Williams explained drivers would be tested for having alcohol or drugs in their system in a variety of scenarios from the way the vehicle was being driven, if the vehicle shows on the system as having no tax or insurance, or if it has been involved in a crash.